aqidah tahawiyya

Aqidah al-Tahawiyyaby Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi al-Hanafi (239-321 AH)translated by Iqbal Ahmad AzamiPreface

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Imam Tahawi's al-'Aqidah, representative of the viewpoint of ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jama'a, has longbeen the most widely acclaimed, and indeed indispensable, reference work on Muslim beliefs, ofwhich this is an edited English translation.

Imam Abu Ja'far Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Salamah bin Salmah bin `Abd al Malik bin Salmah binSulaim bin Sulaiman bin Jawab Azdi, popularly known as Imam Tahawi, after his birth-place inEgypt, is among the most outstanding authorities of the Islamic world on Hadith and fiqh(jurisprudence). He lived 239-321 A.H., an epoch when both the direct and indirect disciples of thefour Imams: Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi'i and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal - wereteaching and practicing. This period was the zenith of Hadith and fiqh studies, and Imam Tahawistudied with all the living authorities of the day. He began as a student of his maternal uncle, Isma'ilbin Yahya Muzni. a leading disciple of Imam Shafi'i. Instinctively, however, Imam Tahawi felt drawnto the corpus of Imam Abu Hanifah's works. Indeed, he had seen his uncle and teacher turning to theworks of Hanafi scholars to resolve thorny issues of Fiqh, drawing heavily on the writings of ImamMuhammad Ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Imam Abu Yusuf, who had codified Hanafi fiqh. This ledImam Tahawi to devote his whole attention to studying the Hanafi works and he eventually joined theHanafi school.

Imam Tahawi stands out not only as a prominent follower of the Hanafi school but, in view or his vasterudition and remarkable powers of assimilation, as one of its leading scholars. His monumentalscholarly works, such as Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar and Mushkil al-Athar, are encyclopaedic in scopeand have long been regarded as indispensable for training students of fiqh.

Al-'Aqidah though small in size, is a basic text for all times, listing what a Muslim must know andbelieve and inwardly comprehend.

There is consensus among the Companions, Successors and all the leading Islamic authorities suchas Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhammad, Imam Malik, Imam Shafi'i and ImamAhmad ibn Hanbal on the doctrines enumerated in this work. For these doctrines shared by ahl al-sunnah wa-al-Jama'ah owe their origin to the Holy Quran and consistent and confirmed Ahadith -the undisputed primary sources of Islam.

Being a text on the Islamic doctrines, this work draws heavily on the arguments set forth in the HolyQur'an and Sunnah. Likewise, the arguments advanced in refuting the views of sects that havedeviated from the Sunnah, are also taken from the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah.

As regards the sects mentioned in this work, a study of Islamic history up to the time of Imam Tahawiwould be quite helpful. References to sects such as Mu'tazilah, Jahmiyyah, Qadriyah, and Jabriyahare found in the work. Moreover, it contains allusions to the unorthodox and deviant views of theShi'ah, Khawarij and such mystics as had departed from the right path. There is an explicit referencein the work to the nonsensical controversy on khalq-al -Qu'ran in the times of Ma'mun and someother `Abbasid Caliphs.

While the permanent relevance of the statements of belief in al-'Aqidah is obvious, the historicalweight and point of certain of these statements can be properly appreciated only if the work is usedas a text for study under the guidance of some learned person able to elucidate its arguments fully,with reference to the intellectual and historical background of the sects refuted in the work. Suchstudy helps one to better understand the Islamic doctrines and avoid the deviations of the past or thepresent.

May Allah grant us a true undersanding of faith and include us with those to whom Allah refers as

Aqidah Tahawiyya 15-Feb-15

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`those who believe, fear Allah and do good deeds'; and `he who fears Allah, endures affliction, thenAllah will not waste the reward of well-doers.'

Iqbal Ahmad A'zami

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the Worlds.

The great scholar Hujjat al-lslam Abu Ja'far al-Warraq al-Tahawi al-Misri, may Allah have mercy onhim, said:

This is a presentation of the beliefs of ahl-al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, according to the schoolof the jurists of this religion, Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man ibn Thabit al-Kufi, Abu Yusuf Ya'qubibn Ibrahim al-Ansari and Abu `Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, may Allahbe pleased with them all, and what they believe regarding the fundamentals of the religionand their faith in the Lord of all the Worlds.

We say about Allah's unity believing by Allah's help - that Allah isOne, without any partners. There is nothing like Him. There is nothing that can overwhelm Him. There is no god other than Him. He is the Eternal without a beginning and enduring without end. He will never perish or come to an end. Nothing happens except what He wills. No imagination can conceive of Him and no understanding cancomprehend Him. He is different from any created being. He is living and never dies and is eternally active and never sleeps. He creates without His being in need to do so and provides for Hiscreation without any effort. He causes death with no fear and restores to life without difficulty. He has always existed together with His attributes since beforecreation. Bringing creation into existence did not add anything toHis attributes that was not already there. As He was, together withHis attributes, in pre-eternity, so He will remain throughoutendless time. It was not only after the act of creation that He could be describedas `the Creator' nor was it only by the act of origination that Hecould he described as `the Originator'. He was always the Lord even when there was nothing to be Lord of,and always the Creator even when there was no creation. In the same way that He is the `Bringer to life of the dead', after Hehas brought them to life a first time, and deserves this name beforebringing them to life, so too He deserves the name of `Creator'before He has created them. T his is because He has the power to do everything, everything isdependent on Him, everything is easy for Him, and He does notneed anything. `There is nothing like Him and He is the Hearer, theSeer'. (al-Shura 42:11) He created creation with His knowledge. He appointed destinies for those He created. He allotted to them fixed life spans. Nothing about them was hidden from Him before He created them,and He knew everything that they would do before He createdthem.



He ordered them to obey Him and forbade them to disobey Him. Everything happens according to His decree and will, and His willis accomplished. The only will that people have is what He wills forthem. What He wills for them occurs and what He does not will,does not occur. He gives guidance to whoever He wills, and protects them, andkeeps them safe from harm, out of His generosity; and He leadsastray whoever He wills, and abases them, and afflicts them, out ofHis justice. All of them are subject to His will between either His generosity orHis justice. He is exalted beyond having opposites or equals. No one can ward off His decree or put back His command oroverpower His affairs. We believe in all of this and are certain that everything comes fromHim. And we are certain that Muhammad (may Allah bless him andgrant him peace) is His chosen servant and selected Prophet andHis Messenger with whom He is well pleased. And that he is the seal of the prophets and the Imam of thegodfearing and the most honoured of all the messengers and thebeloved of the Lord of all the Worlds. Every claim to prophethood after Him is falsehood and deceit. He is the one who has been sent to all the jinn and all mankind withtruth and guidance and with light and illumination. The Qur'an is the word of Allah. It came from Him as speechwithout it being possible to say how. He sent it down on HisMessenger as revelation. The believers accept it, as absolute truth.They are certain that it is, in truth, the word of Allah. It is notcreated, as is the speech of human beings, and anyone who hears itand claims that it is human speech has become an unbeliever. Allahwarns him and censures him and threatens him with Fire when Hesays, Exalted is He:

`I will burn him in the Fire.' (al-Muddaththir 74:26)

When Allah threatens with the Fire those who say

`This is just human speech' (al-Muddaththir 74:25)

we know for certain that it is the speech of the Creator of mankind and that it is totally unlikethe speech of mankind. Anyone who describes Allah as being in any way the same as ahuman being has become an unbeliever. All those who grasp thiswill take heed and refrain from saying things such as theunbelievers say, and they will know that He, in His attributes, is notlike human beings. `The Seeing of Allah by the People of the Garden' is true, withoutt heir vision being all-encompassing and without the manner oftheir vision being known. As the Book of our Lord has expressed it:

`Faces on that Day radiant, looking at their Lord'. (al-Qiyamah 75:22-3)

The explanation of this is as Allah knows and wills. Everything that has come down to us aboutthis from the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in authentic traditions, is ashe said and means what he intended. We do not delve into that, trying to interpret it accordingto our own opinions or letting our imaginations have free rein. No one is safe in his religionunless he surrenders himself completely to Allah, the Exalted and Glorified and to HisMessenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and leaves the knowledge of things that are



ambiguous to the one who knows them. A man's Islam is not secure unless it is based on submission andsurrender. Anyone who desires to know things which it is beyondhis capacity to know, and whose intellect is not content withsurrender, will find that his desire veils him from a pureunderstanding of Allah's true Unity, clear knowledge and correctbelief, and that he veers between disbelief and belief, confirmationand denial and acceptance and rejection. He will be subject towhisperings and find himself confused and full of doubt, beingneither an accepting believer nor a denying rejector. Belief of a man in the `seeing of Allah by the people of the Garden isnot correct if he imagines what it is like, or interprets it accordingto his own understanding since the interpretation of this seeing' orindeed, the meaning of any of the subtle phenomena which are inthe realm of Lordship, is by avoiding its interpretation and strictlyadhering to the submission. `This is the din of Muslims. Anyonewho does not guard himself against negating the attributes of Allah,or likening Allah to something else, has gone astray and has failedto understand Allah's Glory, because our Lord, the Glorified andthe Exalted, can only possibly be described in terms of Oneness andAbsolute Singularity and no creation is in any way like Him. He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, orhaving parts or limbs. Nor is He contained by the six directions asall created things are. Al-Mi'raj (the Ascent through the heavens) is true. The Prophet,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was taken by night andascended in his bodily form, while awake, through the heavens, towhatever heights Allah willed for him. Allah ennobled him in theway that He ennobled him and revealed to him what He revealed tohim,

`and his heart was not mistaken about what it saw' (al-Najm 53:11).

Allah blessed him and granted him peace in this world and the next. Al-Hawd, (the Pool which Allah will grant the Prophet as an honourto quench the thirst of His Ummah on the Day Of Judgement), istrue. Al-Shifa'ah, (the intercession, which is stored up for Muslims), istrue, as related in the (consistent and confirmed) Ahadith. The covenant `which Allah made with Adam and his offspring' istrue. Allah knew, before the existence of time, the exact number of thosewho would enter the Garden and the exact number of those whowould enter the Fire. This number will neither be increaser nordecreased. The same applies to all actions done by people, which are doneexactly as Allah knew they would be done. Everyone is cased towhat he was created for and it is the action with which a man's lifeis sealed which dictates his fate. Those who are fortunate arefortunate by the decree of Allah, and those who are wretched arewretched by the decree of Allah. The exact nature of the decree is Allah's secret in His creation, andno angel near the Throne, nor Prophet sent with a message, hasbeen given knowledge of it. Delving into it and reflecting too muchabout it only leads to destruction and loss, and results inrebelliousness. So be extremely careful about thinking andreflecting on this matter or letting doubts about it assail you,



because Allah has kept knowledge of the decree away from humanbeings, and forbidden them to enquire about it, saying in His Book,

`He is not asked about what He does but they are asked'. (al-Anbiya' 21:23)

So anyone who asks: `Why did Allah do that?' has gone against a judgement of the Book, andanyone who goes against a judgement of the Book is an unbeliever. This in sum is what those of Allah's friends with enlightened heartsneed to know and constitutes the degree of those firmly endowedwith knowledge. For there are two kinds of knowledge: knowledgewhich is accessible to created beings, and knowledge which is notaccessible to created beings. Denying the knowledge which isaccessible is disbelief, and claiming the knowledge which isinaccessible is disbelief. Belief can only be firm when accessibleknowledge is accepted and inaccessible knowledge is not soughtafter. We believe in al-Lawh (the Tablet) and al-Qalam (the Pen) and ineverything written on it. Even if all created beings were to gathertogether to make something fail to exist, whose existence Allah hadwritten on the Tablet, they would not be able to do so. And if allcreated beings were to gather together to make something existwhich Allah had not written on it, they would not be able to do so.The Pen has dried having written down all that will be in existenceuntil the Day of Judgement. Whatever a person has missed hewould have never got it, and whatever one gets, he would have nevermissed it. It is necessary for the servant to know that Allah already knowseverything that is going to happen in His creation and decreed it ina detailed and decisive way. There is nothing that He has created ineither the heavens or the earth that can contradict it, or add to it,or erase it, or change it, or decrease it, or increase it in any way.This is a fundamental aspect of belief and a necessary element ofall knowledge and recognition of Allah's Oneness and Lordship. AsAllah says in His Book:

`He created everything and decreed it in a detailed way'. (al-Furqan 25:2)

And He also says:

`Allah's command is always a decided decree'. (al-Ahzab 33:38)

So woe to anyone who argues with Allah concerning the decree and who, with a sick heart, startsdelving into this matter. In his delusory attempt to investigate the Unseen, he is seeking a secretthat can never be uncovered, and he ends up an evil-doer, telling nothing but lies. Al-'Arsh (the Throne) and al-Kursi (the Chair) are true. He is independent of the Throne and what is beneath it. He encompasses everything and is above it, and what He hascreated is incapable of encompassing Him. We say with belief, acceptance and submission that Allah tookIbrahim as an intimate friend and that He spoke directly to Musa. We believe in the angels, and the Prophets, and the books whichwere revealed to the messengers, and we bear witness that theywere all following the manifest Truth. We call the people of our qiblah Muslims and believers as long asthey acknowledge what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, brought, and accept as true everything that he said andtold us about. We do not enter into vain talk about Allah nor do we allow anydispute about the religion Of Allah.



We do not argue about the Qur'an and we bear witness that it is thespeech of the Lord of all the Worlds which the Trustworthy Spiritcame down with and taught the most honoured Of all theMessengers, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.It is the speech of Allah and no speech of any created being iscomparable to it. We do not say that it was created and we do notgo against the Jama'ah of the Muslims regarding it. We do not consider any of the people of our qiblah to he unbelieversbecause of any wrong action they have done, as long as they do notconsider that action to have been lawful. Nor do we say that the wrong action of a man who has belief doesnot have a harmful effect on him. We hope that Allah will pardon the people of right action amongthe believers and grant them entrance into the Garden through Hismercy, but we cannot be certain of this, and we cannot bear witnessthat it will definitely happen and that they will be in the Garden.We ask forgiveness for the people of wrong action among thebelievers and, although we are afraid for them, we are not indespair about them. Certainty and despair both remove one from the religion, but thepath of truth for the people of the qiblah lies between the two (e.g. aperson must fear and be conscious of Allah's reckoning as well as behopeful of Allah's mercy). A person does not step out or belief except by disavowing whatbrought him into it. Belief consists of affirmation by the tongue and acceptance by theheart. And the whole of what is proven from the Prophet, upon him bepeace, regarding the Shari'ah and the explanation (of the Qur'anand of Islam) is true. Belief is, at base, the same for everyone, but the superiority of someover others in it is due to their fear and awareness of Allah, theiropposition to their desires, and their choosing what is morepleasing to Allah. All the believers are `friends' of Allah and the noblest of them in thesight of Allah are those who are the most obedient and who mostclosely follow the Qur'an. Bel i ef consists of belief in Allah. His angels, His books, Hismessengers, the Last Day, and belief that the Decree - both the goodof it and the evil of it, the sweet of it and the bitter or it - is all fromAllah. We believe in all these things. We do not make any distinctionbetween any of the messengers, we accept as true what all of thembrought. Those of the Ummah of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, who have committed grave sins will be in the Fire, butnot forever, provided they die and meet Allah as believers affirmingHis unity even if they have not repented. They are subject to His willand judgement. If He wants, He will forgive them and pardon themout of His generosity, as is mentionied in the Qur'an when He says:

`And He forgives anything less than that (shirk) to whoever He wills' (al-Nisa' 4: 116);

and if He wants, He will punish them in the Fire out of His justice and then bring them out of theFire through His mercy, and for the intercession of those who were obedient to Him, and sendthem to the Garden. This is because Allah is the Protector of those who recognize Him and willnot treat them in the Next World in the same way as He treats those who deny Him and who are



bereft of His guidance and have failed to obtain His protection. O Allah, You are the Protector ofIslam and its people; make us firm in Islam until the day we meet You. We agree with doing the prayer behind any of the people of theqiblah whether right-acting or wrong-acting, and doing the funeralprayer over any of them when they die. We do not say that any of them will categorically go to either theGarden or the Fire, and we do not accuse any of them of kufr(disbelief), shirk (associating partners with Allah), or nifaq(hypocrisy), as long as they have not openly demonstrated any ofthose things. We leave their secrets to Allah. We do not agree with killing any of the Ummah of Muhammad, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, unless it is obligatory byShari'ah to do so. We do not recognize rebellion against our Imam or those in chargeof our affairs even if they are unjust, nor do we wish evil on them,nor do we withdraw from following them. We hold that obedienceto them is part of obedience to Allah, The Glorified, and thereforeobligatory as long as they do not order to commit sins. We pray fortheir right guidance and pardon from their wrongs. We follow the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Jama'ah of theMuslims, and avoid deviation, differences and divisions. We love the people of justice and trustworthiness, and hate thepeople of injustice and treachery. When our knowledge about something is unclear, we say: `Allahknows best'. We agree with wiping over leather socks (in Wudu) whether on ajourney or otherwise, just as has come in the (consistent andconfirmed) ahadith. Ha jj and jihad under the leadership of those in charge of theMuslims, whether they are right or wrong-acting, are continuingobligations until the Last Hour comes. Nothing can annul orcontrovert them. We believe in Kiraman Katibin (the noble angels) who write downour actions for Allah has appointed them over us as twoguardians. We believe in the Angel of Death who is charged with taking thespirits of all the worlds. We believe in the punishment in the grave for those who deserve it,and in the questioning in the grave by Munkar and Nakir aboutone's Lord, one's religion and one's prophet, as has come down inahadith from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and granthim peace, and in reports from the Companions, may Allah bepleased with them all. The grave is either one of the meadows of the Garden or one of thepits of the Fire. We believe in being brought back to life after death and in beingrecompensed for our actions on the Day of Judgement, and al-'Ard,having been shown them and al-Hisab, brought to account forthem. And Qira'at al-Kitab, reading the book, and the reward orpunishments and in al-Sirat (the Bridge) and al-Mizan (theBalance). The Garden and the Fire are created things that never come to anend and we believe that Allah created them before the rest ofcreation and then created people to inhabit each of them. WhoeverHe wills goes to the Garden out of His Bounty and whoever He willsgoes to the Fire through His justice. Everybody acts in accordancewith what is destined for him and goes towards what he has been



created for. Good and evil have both been decreed for people. The capability in terms of Tawfiq (Divine Grace and Favour) whichmakes an action certain to occur cannot be ascribed to a createdbeing. This capability is integral with action, whereas thecapability of an action in terms of having the necessary health, andability, being in a position to act and having the necessary means,exists in a person before the action. It is this type of capabilitywhich is the object of the dictates of Shariah. Allah the Exaltedsays:

Àllah does not charge a person except according to his ability'. (al-Baqarah 2: 286)

People's actions are created by Allah but earned by people. Allah, the Exalted, has only charged people with what they are ableto do and people are only capable to do what Allah has favouredthem. This is the explanation of the phrase: `There is no power andno strength except by Allah.' We add to this that there is nostratagem or way by which anyone can avoid or escapedisobedience to Allah except with Allah's help; nor does anyonehave the strength to put obedience to Allah into practice andremain firm in it, except if Allah makes it possible for them to doso. Everyt hi ng happens according to Allah's will, knowledge,predestination and decree. His will overpowers all other wills andHis decree overpowers all stratagems. He does whatever He willsand He is never unjust. He is exalted in His purity above any evil orperdition and He is perfect far beyond any fault or flaw. `He willnot be asked about what He does but they will he asked.' (al-Anbiya'21: 23) T here is benefit for dead people in the supplication and alms-giving of the living. Allah responds to people's supplications and gives them what theyask for. Allah has absolute control over everything and nothing has anycontrol over Him. Nothing can be independent of Allah even for theblinking of an eye, and whoever considers himself independent ofAllah for the blinking of an eye is guilty of unbelief and becomes oneof the people of perdition. Allah is angered and can be pleased but not in the same way as anycreature. We love the Companions of the Messenger of Allah but we do not goto excess in our love for any one individual among them nor do wedisown any one of them. We hate anyone who hates them or doesnot speak well of them and we only speak well of them. Love of themis a part of Islam, part of belief and part of excellent behaviour,while hatred of them is unbelief, hypocrisy and rebelliousness. We confirm that, after the death of the Messenger of Allah, mayAllah bless him and grant him peace, the caliphate went first toAbu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, thus provinghis excellence and superiority over the rest of the Muslims; then toÙmar ibn alKhattab, may Allah be pleased with him; then toÙthman, may Allah be pleased with him; and then to Àli ibn AbiTalib, may Allah be pleased with him. These are the Rightly-GuidedCaliphs and upright leaders. We bear witness that the ten who were named by the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and who were



promised the Garden by him, will be in the Garden, as theMessenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,whose word is truth, bore witness that they would he. The ten are:Abu Bakr, Ùmar, Ùthman, Àli, Talhah, Zubayr, Sa'd, Sa'id,Àbdur-Rahman ibn Àwf and Abu Ùbaydah ibn al-Jarrah whosetitle was the trustee of this Ummah, may Allah be pleased with allof them. Anyone who speaks well of the Companions of the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his wives andoffspring, who are all pure and untainted by any impurity, is freefrom the accusation of hypocrisy. The learned men of the first community and those who followed intheir footsteps - the people of virtue, the narrators of the Ahadith,the jurists and analysts- they must only be spoken about in the bestway and anyone who says anything bad about them is not on theright path. We do not prefer any of the saintly men among the Ummah over anyof the Prophets but rather we say that any one of the Prophets isbetter than all the awliya' put together. We believe in what we know of Karamat, the marvels of the awliya'and in authentic stories about them from trustworthy sources. We believe in the signs of the Hour such as the appearance of theDajjal and the descent of Ìsa ibn Maryam, peace be upon him, fromheaven and we believe in the rising of the sun from where it sets andin the emergence of the Beast from the earth. We do not accept as true what soothsayers and fortune-tellers say,nor do we accept the claims of those who affirm anything whichgoes against the Book, the Sunnah and the consensus of the MuslimUmmah. We agree that holding together is the true and right path and thatseparation is deviation and torment. There is only one religion of Allah in the heavens and the earth andthat is the religion of Islam. Allah says:

`Surely religion in the sight of Allah is Islam'. (Al Ìmran 3:19)

And He also says:

Ì am pleased with Islam as a religion for you'. (al-Matidah 5:3)

I sl a m lies between going to excess and falling short, betweenTashbih (likening of Allah's attributes to anything else), and Tatil(denying Allah's attributes), between fatalism and refusing decreeas proceeding from Allah and between certainty (without beingconscious of Allah's reckoning) and despair (of Allah's mercy). This is our religion and it is what we believe in, both inwardly andoutwardly, and we renounce any connection, before Allah, withanyone who goes against what we have said and made clear.

We ask Allah to make us firm in our belief and seal our lives with it and to protect us from variantideas, scattering opinions and evil schools of view such as those of the Mushabbihah, the Mu'tazilah,the Jahmiyyah the Jabriyah, the Qadriyah and others like them who go against the Sunnah andJama'ah and have allied themselves with error. We renounce any connection with them and in ouropinion they are in error and on the path of destruction.

We ask Allah to protect us from all falsehood and we ask His Grace and Favour to do all good.

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